Friday, July 4, 2008

In Sumatra, Indonesian police arrested nine terror suspects with explosives and bombs set to detonate. Originally they had planned to kill foreigners frequenting a cafe in West Sumatra but apparently changed their target to Jakarta. One of those arrested included Abu Hazam, a Singaporean of Pakistani decent with links to Osama Bin Laden and Malaysian bomb-maker Azahari Husin of terror group Jemaah Islamiah.

The Straights Times noted:

The men all belong to a radical Muslim group known as Forum Anti Kemurtadan or forum against apostasy, which campaigned against Muslims converting to other religions.

Their leader is said to be a 42-year-old headmaster of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Palembang [a large city in south Sumatra], who has military experience in Afghanistan.